"Now Twitter is full of people around the world tweeting me about someone else’s underwear."

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No, this wasn't some kind of Lyft brand activation. DC rolled out three Bat vehicles for its SXSW setup, including this Batmobile from the Val Kilmer era.

Nathan Mattise

Those little museum stands have info on each of the vehicles displayed. Kilmer's Batmobile used the engine of a Chevy 380, and the vehicle itself is 25-feet long by almost 8-feet wide. Independent rear suspension was highlighted (this is circa 1995-ish), and the whole thing was powered by a 25-gallon propane tank. "Fired at full capacity," the placard reads. "It could shoot a 25-foot flame out of the rear exhaust."

Nathan Mattise

I haven't seen Justice League, but this may be familiar to Zach Snyder fans.

Nathan Mattise

The included weaponry, fyi: hood-mounted mortar launchers with mini guns, front turret tow missile launcher, and a passenger mounted large cannon. The motor is a 750hp LSX.

Nathan Mattise

Ben Affleck definitely got the roomiest interior of the Batmobiles on display. (This is also the heaviest bat-vehicle at 8,400lbs.)

Perhaps the most iconic of the modern Batmobiles, here's the tumbler from the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy.

Nathan Mattise

By now, this is a fairly famous rear view.

Nathan Mattise

The back tires on this thing are huge, close to four feet tall. They're "Super Swampers" on the spec sheet...

Nathan Mattise

A close up of said tires, only 30 PSI? "Specified rim size, 12x16.5."

Nathan Mattise

No engine info here, but you got to take a physical peek. This vehicle also had a notable "silent mode" where Batman could switch to electric power and night vision (a hybrid EV in 2005 no less, take that Detroit).

Nathan Mattise

Interior felt a little race car-y. Technically, this is the only vehicle not named "Batmobile" (it's officially "The Tumbler," according to the DC info). Production designer Nathan Crowley and Nolan bought a bunch of kits and "kit-bashed until they came up with a hybrid of a Humvee and a Lamborghini."

Nathan Mattise

Bat vehicles with two wheels were also on display...

Nathan Mattise

No info available on how those wings impact aerodynamics.

Nathan Mattise

Admittedly not a motorcycle enthusiast... but that does look slick.

Nathan Mattise

Dick Grayson?

Nathan Mattise

This is not your average Red River St. music venue, eh?

Nathan Mattise

A giant Superman statue loomed over all the morning's DC proceedings...

Nathan Mattise

...Voodoo Donuts, anyone?

Nathan Mattise

They partnered with DC on perhaps the tastiest logo to date.

Nathan Mattise

Gal Gadot, there in spirit at least.

Nathan Mattise

This being essentially a giant marketing extension, some perhaps hard-to-get Funco DC editions were available for purchase (including Anne Hathaway's character from the Nolan series).

Nathan Mattise

AUSTIN, Texas—Just about half a year ago, a simple job change rocked the comics world. Brian Michael Bendis, the longtime Marvel writer who created Jessica Jones and wrote for all the company’s big heroes from Spider-Man to The Avengers, decided to switch sides. In a November 7 tweet, Bendis announced to the world that he’d be joining DC Comics. And this weekend at the South by Southwest conference, he sat on a panel with DC bigwigs from artist Jim Lee to writer Frank Miller to discuss the recently turned 80-years-old icon he’ll work on: Superman.

Further Reading

“I’m a little Jewish boy from Cleveland, and in Cleveland, you grow up and are told, ‘Rock n’ Roll and Superman were born here'—that’s all we have plus some decent pizza,” Bendis told the crowd. “Everyone thought maybe I came [to DC] to do Batman, but all I wanted was Superman.”

Throughout the panel discussion, Bendis hinted at his first major DC projects on the horizon. First will be Man of Steel, No. 1 (May 2), a six-issue event where each issue will be illustrated by a different artistic legend. Soon after, Bendis will follow that up with a reboot, Superman, No. 1 (July 11), before penning Action Comics, No. 1,001 (July 25). No pressure, new hire, but that last project hits a milestone issue mark no other American comic series has reached, according to the panel’s introduction.

“By the end [of Man of Steel], we’ll have a new status quo for Superman and his arrangement in the DC universe,” Bendis said. “[This miniseries] teases everything you’ll need to know going forward. We drop a bomb on our last page that will hopefully have everyone talking about it even more so than his underpants.“

Trunks talk

Some background just in case the super-shorts reference catches anyone off guard: Following some Jim Lee-induced trunk trauma for DC fans (where the artist deviated from the iconic red briefs), this SXSW event started with all attendees receiving a pair of boxers with the simple screenprinting: “The trunks are back.” Bendis noted this fan controversy was actually one of the first things he discussed with his Superman predecessor, writer Dan Jurgens. “Dan calls me up and says, ‘You can have the shorts, you want the shorts?’” Bendis recalled. “Is that a thing? [Dan says], ‘There’s a lot of controversy with the shorts, you should bring ‘em back.’ And for now Twitter is full of people around the world tweeting me about someone else’s underwear.”

Obviously Bendis, Lee, and others in attendance had to tread lightly on firm future plans, but they happily hinted at them. Responding to a question about whether Lois Lane might get her own miniseries, Lee admitted he must stick to company PR policy. “We can’t disclose any plans, and if we had any plans we wouldn’t blink twice,” said Lee, blinking twice. “All I can say is, Brian has a lot of plans and is a tremendous writer, and all our writers have this tremendous passion for the wide-ranging DC mythology. We’d be remiss to not address the desire of that fanbase.” Bendis called Lois the bravest person in the universe. And Miller quickly noted she’s the one who, in the original 1978 Richard Donner movie, tests whether or not Clark could fly by throwing herself off a skyscraper.

As jokes of Krypto’s return were sprinkled throughout the discussion, Bendis further echoed this strong interest in other characters within the Superman universe. In particular, he expressed a lot of adoration for Clark Kent, particularly as the mild-mannered journalist enters into a new era of media filled with hyper-niche echo chambers and calls of fake news.

“To emphasize how important the Daily Planet is, I actually spent a day shadowing The Oregonian this week,” Bendis said. “On top of journalism being under siege in a way it never has been in my life, a lot of what has happened to Clark has happened to him—he was sent here, after all. But Clark chose to be a reporter when he didn’t need to do anything. Of all the jobs he could have, he needed this one. Why? Truth, there are simply parts of truth and justice Superman can’t punch his way through. But Clark can…”

Enlarge/ Brian Michael Bendis, seated with Frank Miller to his right and writers Nadria Tucker and Lina Patel to his left.

Nathan Mattise

“Today is actually a wonderful case where you can show his courage,” Miller interjected. “On the old George Reeves TV show, when something is going down and Perry White says, ‘Where's Kent?’, Lois says, ‘You know Clark, he’s taking care of something.’ The mild-mannered thing came later; I like a brazen Clark Kent.”

Before wrapping, the panel—which also included longtime Superman writer Dan Jurgens and writers and producers on the upcoming Krypton TV series—took time to share their first and favorite Superman memories in light of the character’s 80th birthday and the upcoming Action Comics milestone. The responses serve as an ideal reading list for anyone looking to quickly catch up on decades of history ahead of Bendis’ debut.

“In terms of art, it’s Superman v. Muhammad Ali,” Lee said. “That showed the full range of that character: fighting interstellar invasion forces to walking the streets of Metropolis as Clark Kent to fighting Ali—this is a character that can do anything. And he got beat. Or, at least faked a defeat.” Elsewhere, Jurgens pointed to Superman’s return to Krypton from the mid-1950s, Lee praised the Jurgens-penned Death of Superman, Bendis cited Alan Moore’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow. (They all loved the Donner movie.) Miller even praised the old Fleischer Bros. cartoons. “The one I loved is called ‘Runaway Train’ or ‘Billion Dollar Limited,’ or something. It’s wonderful for its simplicity: bad guys get control of a train filled with gold, Superman has to stop it. The end. But getting there is amazing—railroad ties are exploding, and Superman is stretched to his absolute limit.”

Bless the Internet.

Lee, Bendis, and Krypton Executive Producer Cameron Welsh also praised one of Miller’s own works, Dark Knight Returns, as an entryway into comics even if it’s more known for involving a different caped crusader. “Through my childhood, Superman and Batman were interchangeable, old chums. They’d only fight if one made Kryptonite or something,” Lee said. “Dark Knight Returns showed that these two men looked at the world in very different ways based on their origins and capabilities; it really differentiated the characters for me.”

Further Reading

But this DC event stayed loyal to perhaps the character the company remains most synonymous with after all these years. With the new Bendis works and SyFy’s Superman-adjacent Krypton coming this spring, it's clear how DC and its creators feel about the Man of Steel even after all these years.

“Now more than ever, we need Superman, it’s time,” Bendis said. “He exudes hope to all around him, but that’s also a burden. We’ve seen it in other characters that represent something so much larger... and now we’ll experience that through him.”

Dropping a "bomb" on the last page of the new miniseries. OK. Well, the character survived the last time an ex-Marvel guy took the reins and "reinvented" him, so I'm sure he'll survive this too. It just remains to be seen if Bendis is the next John Byrne...

No mullet. No damsel in distress, unless it's Lois doing it deliberately because she knows Superman is there. Smarter, safer fights, to the extent that you have to have them, a protector, not a destroyer. A Superman that absorbs the hits like Rocky to win more than demonstrates he can punch you into the nearest star. A Clark that wins as many battles as Superman.

But I'm completely out of touch with current comics. I was surprised to find there was a whole spectrum of Lanterns now. I thought Death of Superman was pretty crap as a story.

And Miller quickly noted she’s the one who, in the original 1978 Richard Donner movie, tests whether or not Clark could fly by throwing herself off a skyscraper.

Isn't that scene in Superman II, and involving a cliff into a river, or am I forgetting one scene from the original?

I was about to say exactly that. It was Niagra Falls (or one of the other falls around the area).

Yes, Lois does fall off of a building in the first film, but she was in a helicopter that had crashed; she wasn't testing Clark for anything.

She doesn't jump off the Falls, that's a kid that falls. She does jump in the river to try to prove her belief that Clark is Superman. I figured they were talking about the original script for Superman 1 & 2, but I didn't notice that skimming the linked article.

Can we put Frank Miller out to pasture and leave him there? I know his name sells books, but I've been real disappointed with everything he's done recently, when he bothers to finish anything.

Let's not forget that he explicitly set out to create Islamophobic propaganda that was so bad DC wouldn't touch it, though it was originally supposed to be a Batman comic. He had to go back and take the bat-ears off every panel and make him into a new character. Racist, hateful garbage.

And I say this as someone who grew up reading his brilliant early work, which indisputably redefined the industry. His best work is right there with the best work ever done. His dialogue is permanently burned into my brain, and his artwork, though rough, is the most cinematic I've ever seen. He's a genius.

Unfortunately, he's now also a racist, xenophobic asshole. It's tragic, but there it is. Let him go. Remember the old stuff.

I feel bad for fans of Superman. Bendis can tell a decent story when he has no existing characterization to worry about, hence why some of his best work is an alternate dimension version of Spider-man and the new character (Miles) that replaced him. But if the character has a past, you can expect it to get shit-canned to serve whatever whim of a plot device he has devised for this or that arc.

And Miller quickly noted she’s the one who, in the original 1978 Richard Donner movie, tests whether or not Clark could fly by throwing herself off a skyscraper.

Isn't that scene in Superman II, and involving a cliff into a river, or am I forgetting one scene from the original?

I was about to say exactly that. It was Niagra Falls (or one of the other falls around the area).

Yes, Lois does fall off of a building in the first film, but she was in a helicopter that had crashed; she wasn't testing Clark for anything.

She doesn't jump off the Falls, that's a kid that falls. She does jump in the river to try to prove her belief that Clark is Superman. I figured they were talking about the original script for Superman 1 & 2, but I didn't notice that skimming the linked article.

In the Donner Cut of Superman II that was released a few years ago, she jumped out of a window at the Daily Planet to try to prove it before they went to Niagara Falls.

I have been absolutely loving Superman in the Rebirth comics, it's a return to a heroic Superman with a more modern set of sensibilities. My biggest fear is that Bendis is going to undo one of the best comics initiatives in decades. Trunks or no trunks, I want to keep the latest direction going.

My vote is Bendis reveals that Kryptonians are all just Super Skrulls and then the heroes can't tell which is which and just kill each other off in some supes war. Doesn't really matter since DC just reinvents their characters every year anyway.

I am in the "please don't ever bring the underwear back" camp.Because they are not trunks, trunks come down the leg a bit more. The way Supes "outerwear" has been drawn the vast majority of the time is to look like red briefs.

There is a reason why kids wore them like that. Not that I ever did, ahem...

Still, I wouldn't like to see them back at all. I will concede that the pants design needs a break from so much blue but there has to be something else than Clark wearing his favorite pair of Kryptonian red lingerie briefs on the outside.

That said, I am looking forward to Bendis take. Some may disagree with prior remakes of the character (for example, I did like Byrne's origin story as it recreated the Kryptonian culture as something different, rather than regular earth people in space) but Supes does needs a push.

It used to be one of my favorite characters but I never liked most of what Jurgens did with him, most likely because I am no longer in the target age group, but it made me completely drop the comics.

And "Death of Superman" did suck. Doomsday was a conveniently made anti-superman lazy plot mover. I read it on reflex but as the series steadily moved on so did my investment in the characters. Similar to the Convergence story line... just messy writing. It was a good idea, bad setup to add more characters to the Superman universe.

I am in the "please don't ever bring the underwear back" camp.Because they are not trunks, trunks come down the leg a bit more. The way Supes "outerwear" has been drawn the vast majority of the time is to look like red briefs.

There is a reason why kids wore them like that. Not that I ever did, ahem...

Still, I wouldn't like to see them back at all. I will concede that the pants design needs a break from so much blue but there has to be something else than Clark wearing his favorite pair of Kryptonian red lingerie briefs on the outside.

That said, I am looking forward to Bendis take. Some may disagree with prior remakes of the character (for example, I did like Byrne's origin story as it recreated the Kryptonian culture as something different, rather than regular earth people in space) but Supes does needs a push.

It used to be one of my favorite characters but I never liked most of what Jurgens did with him, most likely because I am no longer in the target age group, but it made me completely drop the comics.

And "Death of Superman" did suck. Doomsday was a conveniently made anti-superman lazy plot mover. I read it on reflex but as the series steadily moved on so did my investment in the characters. Similar to the Convergence story line... just messy writing. It was a good idea, bad setup to add more characters to the Superman universe.

The briefs/trunks look silly. They need to come back BECAUSE they look silly. Super heroes are silly, when you get right down to that, and their costumes need to remind us of that. Never ever forget, Batman is a man dressed like a bat, because he thinks it will scare people. "The bat stands for a bat."

Anyway though, I don't think costumes should never change. Batman's can change eternally. He must wear a different color batman costume every night. Wonderwoman can wear pants or a war kilt or whatever, and I think it's an improvement in both cases. Superman is superman though, and much like the Pepsi logo, all changes should be minor bits of embellishment (I'm glad Pepsi seems to have realized that). Superman's costume, much like the man, should fundamentally stay the same, except for "what if" stories.

who is the man (in the picture) between Brian Michael Bendis, and writers Nadria Tucker and Lina Patel on his left. ?

while you did not mention the other people on Brian Michael Bendis‘ right, ( would have made the caption unwieldy ), not mentioning the person sandwiched between Brian Michael Bendis and the female writers on his left is in my opinion poor form... (although is the “protocol”...”chicago writing style” to only name people whose face is visible? do not know. if it is then it is my error...)

As someone that dropped DC (and really all superhero comics) after the New 52, I came back with Rebirth and have been loving almost everything, particularly the Superman titles. I really hope Bendis doesn't mess it up because this is the best Superman has been written in decades. The addition of Jonathan Kent, Clark and Lois' son, has been one of the best additions to the mythos in a long time. Seeing how they interact with him as parents has been great and I hope they don't lose that.

Can we put Frank Miller out to pasture and leave him there? I know his name sells books, but I've been real disappointed with everything he's done recently, when he bothers to finish anything.

Unfortunately, [Frank Miller's] now also a racist, xenophobic asshole. It's tragic, but there it is. Let him go. Remember the old stuff.

Was he always that way or did 9/11 just break his brain?

Edit: Even reading him with hindsight you can kind of tell he's the sort of dude who would have read "The Watchmen" and come off wishing he could be like Rorschach.

Well, there's a lot of dodgy stuff in The Dark Knight Returns, but it's largely kept under control. In later years, he's been a bit more blatant about it. I suspect it's a combination of a reaction to 9/11, getting older, and his status in the comics industry. So he's got less interest in being nice, and fewer people are willing to tell him to tone it down.

I find it interesting that he shared studio space with Howard Chaykin and Walter Simonson back in the 70s or 80s. There must have been some interesting discussions about politics in that office. Or maybe they just argued about the best way to draw women in their underwear.

As someone that dropped DC (and really all superhero comics) after the New 52, I came back with Rebirth and have been loving almost everything, particularly the Superman titles. I really hope Bendis doesn't mess it up because this is the best Superman has been written in decades. The addition of Jonathan Kent, Clark and Lois' son, has been one of the best additions to the mythos in a long time. Seeing how they interact with him as parents has been great and I hope they don't lose that.

Please don't make Superman cheat on Louis, or beat his son, or have a deep dark secret about some past betrayal that could "destroy his entire family" if they found out. Superman doesn't need any of that. Superman never needed the "damage", he just needs to be that good guy trying to figure out the best way to use his invincible godhood to help everyone. That's enough drama to last almost a century, why ask for more?

who is the man (in the picture) between Brian Michael Bendis, and writers Nadria Tucker and Lina Patel on his left. ?

while you did not mention the other people on Brian Michael Bendis‘ right, ( would have made the caption unwieldy ), not mentioning the person sandwiched between Brian Michael Bendis and the female writers on his left is in my opinion poor form... (although is the “protocol”...”chicago writing style” to only name people whose face is visible? do not know. if it is then it is my error...)

Cameron Welsh, Krytpon's showrunner. There was *some* Krypton talk given three members of that staff were on the panel (my favorite being Nadria fanning out because her big Superman influence was Smallville and Krytpon managed to bring back one of that show's most prominent writers), but I imagine most discussion around the new show was being saved for its pilot to premiere in front of an audience at SXSW. (I imagine we'll review it as able, it debuts in late March.)

Throughout the panel discussion, Bendis hinted at his first major DC projects on the horizon. First will be Man of Steel, No. 1 (May 2), a six-issue event where each issue will be illustrated by a different artistic legend. Soon after, Bendis will follow that up with a reboot, Superman, No. 1 (July 11), before penning Action Comics, No. 1,001 (July 25).

As someone that dropped DC (and really all superhero comics) after the New 52, I came back with Rebirth and have been loving almost everything, particularly the Superman titles. I really hope Bendis doesn't mess it up because this is the best Superman has been written in decades. The addition of Jonathan Kent, Clark and Lois' son, has been one of the best additions to the mythos in a long time. Seeing how they interact with him as parents has been great and I hope they don't lose that.

Please don't make Superman cheat on Louis, or beat his son, or have a deep dark secret about some past betrayal that could "destroy his entire family" if they found out. Superman doesn't need any of that. Superman never needed the "damage", he just needs to be that good guy trying to figure out the best way to use his invincible godhood to help everyone. That's enough drama to last almost a century, why ask for more?

As someone that dropped DC (and really all superhero comics) after the New 52, I came back with Rebirth and have been loving almost everything, particularly the Superman titles. I really hope Bendis doesn't mess it up because this is the best Superman has been written in decades. The addition of Jonathan Kent, Clark and Lois' son, has been one of the best additions to the mythos in a long time. Seeing how they interact with him as parents has been great and I hope they don't lose that.

Please don't make Superman cheat on Louis, or beat his son, or have a deep dark secret about some past betrayal that could "destroy his entire family" if they found out. Superman doesn't need any of that. Superman never needed the "damage", he just needs to be that good guy trying to figure out the best way to use his invincible godhood to help everyone. That's enough drama to last almost a century, why ask for more?

Big reveal: he's a secret puppy-kicker.

I thought it was going to turn out that Hawkeye saw Superman in Scarlet Witch's closet.

Those still paying for this garbage are just deluding themselves by now. DC and marvel comics are bottom of the barrel, corporate money grabs and have been for nearly a generation. The article even has a "Val Kilmer era Batmobile" as if that's not a strong clue right there.

As someone that dropped DC (and really all superhero comics) after the New 52, I came back with Rebirth and have been loving almost everything, particularly the Superman titles. I really hope Bendis doesn't mess it up because this is the best Superman has been written in decades. The addition of Jonathan Kent, Clark and Lois' son, has been one of the best additions to the mythos in a long time. Seeing how they interact with him as parents has been great and I hope they don't lose that.

Please don't make Superman cheat on Louis, or beat his son, or have a deep dark secret about some past betrayal that could "destroy his entire family" if they found out. Superman doesn't need any of that. Superman never needed the "damage", he just needs to be that good guy trying to figure out the best way to use his invincible godhood to help everyone. That's enough drama to last almost a century, why ask for more?

Big reveal: he's a secret puppy-kicker.

I thought it was going to turn out that Hawkeye saw Superman in Scarlet Witch's closet.

I have to admit I read that and wondered why the Alan Alda character from M*A*S*H was looking in Scarlet Witch's closet.

As someone that dropped DC (and really all superhero comics) after the New 52, I came back with Rebirth and have been loving almost everything, particularly the Superman titles. I really hope Bendis doesn't mess it up because this is the best Superman has been written in decades. The addition of Jonathan Kent, Clark and Lois' son, has been one of the best additions to the mythos in a long time. Seeing how they interact with him as parents has been great and I hope they don't lose that.

Please don't make Superman cheat on Louis, or beat his son, or have a deep dark secret about some past betrayal that could "destroy his entire family" if they found out. Superman doesn't need any of that. Superman never needed the "damage", he just needs to be that good guy trying to figure out the best way to use his invincible godhood to help everyone. That's enough drama to last almost a century, why ask for more?

Big reveal: he's a secret puppy-kicker.

I thought it was going to turn out that Hawkeye saw Superman in Scarlet Witch's closet.

I have to admit I read that and wondered why the Alan Alda character from M*A*S*H was looking in Scarlet Witch's closet.